udballer wrote:The low point for me had to be the critical possession near the end of the game when Corey and JJJ just lobbed the ball back and forth to each other about 7 times from 40-ft out and then Corey fired a missile of a pass to an NKU player in the paint. If there was ever a time to call a timeout or call an actual play, that was it.

Yes, that was a low point! Back and forth long toss ... my son and I pretty much simultaneously wondered "What in the world are we doing??" At least the defense was more fun to watch today.

Other than the execution at the finish, that play didn't bother me at all. I suspect it was a called play, a bit of a trick play where the whole idea was to lull the defense a bit and possibly set up a drive or open look three, or the quick, hard pass they eventually attempted. It's totally different than anything we normally, and there's some value in that. Didn't work, but I didn't think it was a dumb play. Indeed, I suspect the idea was to make people--including NKU-- wonder "What in the world are they doing?" Unveiling it at a critical possession near the end of the game was probably the time to do just that. I was also pleased to at least see some imagination on the final in-bounds play, and it's too bad the element of surprise was lost due to the dumb clock keeper.

ptctitan wrote:Commissioner: could be growing pains, the inconsistency of a frosh at PG, Bacari's absence, and slow acceptance of specific roles by some players. Also, I still think Corey Allen is playing injured and that accounts for his poor shooting since ETSU. What do you think?

I said what I think--I keep up to date with T96's posts, and I think that it's because JJ is a backstabbing, unethical, incompetent protected by the equally unprofessional, incompetent Vowels, who in turn keeps his job thanks to incriminating photos he has of the University President, none of them really want the school the win because they want an excuse to fire Bacari and put JJ in the job, where he'll make sure we continue to lose so that he can showcase his kid (because the pros love losers), and we'll never win again until they're all gone, and by the way, I'm not donating anymore.

MooseGuy1 wrote:15. An olive branch to 96: Last year, with Bacari pulling down about a half million a year, we paid a $62,500 for each victory. This season, he has yet to win a game as head coach so the cost per game won is infinite. That sucks in every way.

Doesn't that make the cost per victory zero? The problem isn't what we're paying per victory, the problem is that we're paying about $45,000 per loss. On the bright side, with each added loss, the unit cost per loss goes down. This could be a case study in successful cost control at the Biz School.

Commish,

I think your biggest issue is the fact that you are calling that series of unfortunate events a "play" in the first place. Then, you're providing a bunch of logical reasons why they did it to back it up. That wasn't a play, it was (slightly) organized chaos. The most successful thing about that trip down court was that they didn't turn it over sooner.

I certainly hope BA didn't instruct those two to play a game of monkey-in-the-middle on the 5th possession following the timeout.

ptctitan wrote:We are always going to see negatives on offense - especially today without Kam and with other guys trying to step up in his absence.

I would simply point out this statistical comparison before and after BA's absence.

During the player incident (occurred Nov. 6, VaTech game was Nov 10) and BA's absence (Nov 13 to Dec 5): Opponents averaged 92.5 pts per game over 1st 8 games.

From BA's return through today: opponents have averaged 82.88 pts per game over the last 9 games.

Finally, these facts: in Ray's last season, the Titans gave up an average of 82.8 points per game. Last season, (BA's first), the Titans gave up an average of 84.8 points per game.

Just pointing out the stats.

Commissioner: could be growing pains, the inconsistency of a frosh at PG, Bacari's absence, and slow acceptance of specific roles by some players. Also, I still think Corey Allen is playing injured and that accounts for his poor shooting since ETSU. What do you think?

I gotta ask? Is your favorite movie "Moneyball"?

Too many handpicked statistics and not enough eyeballs, in my opinion.

Commissioner, I never looked at it as price per loss (unit). I'm a mathematical idiot. But it makes sense. If we just lose enough games (volume of units), Bacari's regime will be a financial bargain. Just think how much Izzo's losses costs State. I feel better already.

udballer wrote:The low point for me had to be the critical possession near the end of the game when Corey and JJJ just lobbed the ball back and forth to each other about 7 times from 40-ft out and then Corey fired a missile of a pass to an NKU player in the paint. If there was ever a time to call a timeout or call an actual play, that was it.

Yes, that was a low point! Back and forth long toss ... my son and I pretty much simultaneously wondered "What in the world are we doing??" At least the defense was more fun to watch today.

Commissioner wrote:Other than the execution at the finish, that play didn't bother me at all. I suspect it was a called play, a bit of a trick play where the whole idea was to lull the defense a bit and possibly set up a drive or open look three, or the quick, hard pass they eventually attempted. It's totally different than anything we normally, and there's some value in that. Didn't work, but I didn't think it was a dumb play. Indeed, I suspect the idea was to make people--including NKU-- wonder "What in the world are they doing?" Unveiling it at a critical possession near the end of the game was probably the time to do just that.

udballer wrote:Commish,

I think your biggest issue is the fact that you are calling that series of unfortunate events a "play" in the first place. Then, you're providing a bunch of logical reasons why they did it to back it up. That wasn't a play, it was (slightly) organized chaos. The most successful thing about that trip down court was that they didn't turn it over sooner.

I certainly hope BA didn't instruct those two to play a game of monkey-in-the-middle on the 5th possession following the timeout.

I don't think so. We've never seen them do that any other time--what makes you think that there was a sudden desire to do that? It looked to me like it was clearly what they were looking to do, nor did anyone else on our side of the floor seem puzzled, at least to me. It looked to me like a play with a design and a planned finish. Did it work? Obviously not, so obviously a failure. And it's not something you would do often, but a lot of designed plays aren't--that's often precisely why they're designed and called. It's the equivalent of a fake punt or flea flicker or whatever you want to analogize it to. The look great when they work, dumb when they don't. I prefer it to watching one of the guards run down court and jack up a three in front of all his teammates, or charge into the teeth of traffic and get snuffed, or stand around until the desperation shot-clock heave. The Titans hit that pass at the end of the play and you'd be like, "hey, that was cool." And you know it.

We probably won't know, but that looked to me like an an intentional play with a clearly designed finish. Also, I don't quite get your last comment-- you don't think a coach can instruct players on various things to do going forward (not necessarily on a particular possession, either), or holler an instruction from the bench? They sure did when I played ball, and that was at a much lower level of play. Anyway, it doesn't really matter. I'm just sayin', for me that wasn't a low point at all, it was a just a play that didn't work. Despite being a high scoring team, we aren't really very good offensively--we're not efficient, and we score a lot simply because we play fast. So a little experimentation is hardly a low point for me.

Last edited by Commissioner on Sun Jan 07, 2018 9:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

People who over-reacted to a stupid response by BA to an ordinary moment that resulted in a ridiculously-long suspension = way too many of youPeople who are reacting to today's loss as part of a long line of losses as if it were like all the other losses (many of which were painful and disgusting) = way too many of youPeople who don't realize that Ray had lost the team during his last season and was never going to reach the heights he had reached while his son was our PG = way too many of youPeople who think Jim Harbaugh should be fired because U-M football had a bad season = so many U-M idiots who have no idea where they would turn nextPeople who want to run BA out of town before finding out if he can actually turn this thing around = a bunch of crybabies with agendas a mile longPeople who hate losing = ALL of usPeople who want the kind of team that consistently beats everyone in our league at home every time because its the way it's supposed to be, no matter the opponent = MEPeople who noticed that today's game was remarkably different than all of the other losses this season = some of us herePeople who need to need to realize that BA might not be the answer, but he might be, and he's a Titan first-and-foremost and there is NO way you should throw him under the bus yet = Robert Vowels and everyone who claims to support this University

As Commish wrote earlier this week: I am getting sick of this Board. I also hated the game of keepaway between JJ and Corey. Maybe it was planned but at the time I hated it because in this game it was hard to get a good shot in 30 seconds sometimes and we were wasting key seconds. But at least today we have the chance to talk about this silly play because the game was on the line in the closing moments. That's a far cry better than getting our a** handed to us because we didn't care about getting whupped in the first place.

Now let's see what happens next game. And the next game. And the next game....

People who keep bringing up Coach Ray as some mitigating factor in the results of the last season and a half = too many of you. People who try to push the narrative that Coach Ray only had success here when his son was on the team = too many of you.People who ignore what Coach Ray did at Ball State = too many of you.

I'd be happy to never have to discuss Ray in a current game thread again, but it's not the people who supported him who keep bringing him up. The present state of the Titans isn't pretty, but that's where the focus should be.

Regardless of your stance on BA, there is an unquestionable underlying mystery as to why the kids on this team seemed to rise and play for their Assistant Coach and are not doing the same thing for the Head Coach. Is the an indictment on BA? Pure coincidence?

How come no one wants to discuss this important issue on here?

My personal take is that kids were highly motivated to play whike BA was out. This may be due to them rallying in support of the HC or also rising to play for the AHC. By not seeing the same intensity level from the kids since BA has returned, it would indicate that the kids are not fully inspired to play.

Motor City Sam wrote:People who keep bringing up Coach Ray as some mitigating factor in the results of the last season and a half = too many of you. People who try to push the narrative that Coach Ray only had success here when his son was on the team = too many of you.People who ignore what Coach Ray did at Ball State = too many of you.

I'd be happy to never have to discuss Ray in a current game thread again, but it's not the people who supported him who keep bringing him up. The present state of the Titans isn't pretty, but that's where the focus should be.

Motor City Sam wrote:People who keep bringing up Coach Ray as some mitigating factor in the results of the last season and a half = too many of you. People who try to push the narrative that Coach Ray only had success here when his son was on the team = too many of you.People who ignore what Coach Ray did at Ball State = too many of you.

I'd be happy to never have to discuss Ray in a current game thread again, but it's not the people who supported him who keep bringing him up. The present state of the Titans isn't pretty, but that's where the focus should be.

Sam, you are so correct. It really is pitiful. So many do not know what Ray had to deal with and what a good coach he is. Also, everyone seems to forget who is the common factor of Ray’s last year (which he had zero control over) and the current poor state of affairs we now have ourselves into - Vowels and JJSr. Chew on that Ray detractors.

Motor City Sam wrote:People who keep bringing up Coach Ray as some mitigating factor in the results of the last season and a half = too many of you. People who try to push the narrative that Coach Ray only had success here when his son was on the team = too many of you.People who ignore what Coach Ray did at Ball State = too many of you.

I'd be happy to never have to discuss Ray in a current game thread again, but it's not the people who supported him who keep bringing him up. The present state of the Titans isn't pretty, but that's where the focus should be.

That clearly wasn't it. I was sitting on the opposite side of the arena from BA... across from NKU bench... about 20 rows up on the upper level. From there, I easily heard every instruction he gave the team.

That clearly wasn't it. I was sitting on the opposite side of the arena from BA... across from NKU bench... about 20 rows up on the upper level. From there, I easily heard every instruction he gave the team.

How could you hear over all the mascots?

"Anything that can be done in college basketball can be done from right here.” - Coach Davis

If today is an indication of the attitude the team has during adversity, I feel much better about my 6-3 projection for our final 9 regular season conference games.

Tacitus - as a Hoosier boy, I have seen better basketball at Bethel College (15-3 so far this year), but I have been a Titan for over 50 years. That won't change.

Most of us in the glass half full side of the court saw a much better effort than past games. That gives us encouragement and hope for the future. Those on the glass totally empty side of the court only saw the bottom of the glass. I think everyone knows that I always blame the guy at the top. This situation is no different. Without good leadership their is never a team. Remember that to have a TEAM you need two Vowels. We only have one and it is probably blaming either U or I and not the proper Vowels.

lol, love the Bethel College reference. I wonder if we could beat them? Being a Titan fan won't change for me either. I'll never give up hope in my alma mater and I'll watch every game. Just hard times...

"Anything that can be done in college basketball can be done from right here.” - Coach Davis

We all need to remember that if we didn't really love this team, we certainly wouldn't waste our time (or use our middle of the night old guy piss breaks) to post our thoughts. With emotion comes engagement and, most importantly, passion.